BAM!!! Seulgi didn’t dare peek, but she wouldn’t have been surprised if Joy’s fist had gone straight through the locker beside her head.

“So let me see if I’ve got this straight,” the redhead breathed tensely, clearly on the very edge of her composure. “You asked Wendy out in front of the whole club last week.” She leaned in very close to Seulgi’s face. “And then over the weekend, you kissed Irene right in front of her?”

Seulgi had no defense for that. In fact, she felt rather defenseless in general, what with Joy looming over her, effectively pinning her to the lockers through sheer force of will. The taller girl retracted her fist and it looked like she was going to strike again - and Seulgi winced, hoping it wasn’t going to be her face this time - when suddenly she heard a voice.

“Hey!” Seulgi peeked her eyes open to see Joy’s wrist caught in the strong grip of one of her teammates. “Is she bothering you, Seul?”

“Eunae,” Seulgi sighed in relief as she sank against the lockers.

“Oh great, another plebeian,” Joy grumbled as she yanked her arm free.

Eunae crossed her arms. Seulgi may be on the short side, but Eunae was more than a match for someone of Joy’s stature, and if there was one thing she was good at, it was staredowns.

Joy gave a frustrated sigh and turned back to Seulgi. “I’m not finished talking to you,” she growled, and she gave them both one final glare before stalking off.

Eunae waited until Joy rounded the corner of the hall before letting out a long breath and sinking against the lockers beside Seulgi. “Holy cow, Seul, she’s intense!”

Seulgi laughed. “I don’t know, you were so good just now I think you should consider joining the Drama Club, too.”

Eunae shook her head vigorously. “No thanks. But I can’t believe you, the jock, are getting bullied by the nerds.”

“Hey, they’re nice nerds,” Seulgi protested feebly.

“Oh yeah, they seem real nice,” Eunae replied, rolling her eyes. She stood up off the lockers and looked Seulgi over, her expression melting into one of concern. “She didn’t actually hurt you though, did she?”

Seulgi shook her head and she turned to see the large dent in the locker door beside her where Joy had vented her frustration. “No, but I feel bad for whoever’s locker this is.”

“Good,” Eunae said. “Can you imagine what we’d do without our Captain with the Nationals coming up?”

+++

“What in the world happened to your hand?!” Wendy cried when she noticed Joy favoring it. Wendy took it and gently ran the pads of her thumbs over Joy’s bruised knuckles.

Joy winced, but let Wendy look it over. “Nothing, I just… might have gotten carried away when I ran into Seulgi in the hall.”

Wendy paled. “... You didn’t…”

Joy rolled her eyes, though she colored a bit under Wendy’s accusation. “I didn’t punch her, if that’s what you’re thinking. Though I wanted to.” She finally retrieved her hand from Wendy and curled her fingers painfully. She could never be a hand model now.

“Are you really sure you’re okay?” Joy asked, changing the subject to continue a conversation they had begun over the weekend.

Wendy gave her a faint smile. “Yeah, of course. It’s just acting, Joy.”

“Just acting, huh?” Joy repeated, eyeing Wendy shrewdly.

Wendy wasn’t going to lie to Joy and try to claim that she wasn’t a little confused about what had happened Saturday night. She had watched Seulgi and Irene get carried away by their duet and then they had suddenly kissed.

But it was just part of the play, right? Wendy would never admit that she had looked through the scene later to confirm that it was written into the stage directions.

“That Seulgi’s been trouble from the start,” Joy said, breaking into Wendy’s thoughts.

“You’ve been giving her trouble from the start, you mean,” Wendy retorted, a bit defensively. Joy gave her a curious look.

“Oh, I’m sorry I’m the one out here defending your honor, while you defend the girl who’s been running you around this past week,” Joy countered sarcastically.

Wendy sighed and carefully took Joy’s hand again. “I’m sorry. But you really don’t need to worry about me. I mean once this play is over, everything can go back to normal, right?” She could go back to crushing on Seulgi from a comfortable distance, and Irene…

Wendy surprised herself by wishing they hadn’t run into Seulgi and Yeri in the restaurant that night.

“Normal? Is that what you want?” Joy asked, seeing that faraway look in Wendy’s eyes.

What was normal even going to look like once they finally made it to opening night?

+++

Irene paused in spite of herself. She could hear the squeaking of sneakers and the panting of exertion coming from the gym as she wandered past and it made her backtrack a few steps. She had stayed behind late after school to talk to a teacher, and now found herself all alone in the empty halls.

Well alone with their school’s Dance Team practicing on the other side of those doors. As much as she had been curious to see Seulgi completely out of her element - out of her uniform, outside of the school, without any of her other athlete friends around - she was also just as interested in seeing what the captain was like in her element. Even after this short time of knowing her, Irene was beginning to notice a startling duality about Seulgi: her charismatic persona versus that shy girl who had blurted out a confession to Wendy up on the stage, and it was pulling Irene right in.

And of course she couldn’t think of Seulgi without remembering that accidental kiss in her room. She bit her lip in annoyance, trying not to think about it.

She peered through the crack in the double-doors and saw Seulgi, predictably, practicing a routine. Irene was suddenly struck with the rather vivid memory of Seulgi’s audition, but this was a far more distressing sight, what with Seulgi sweating through her white t-shirt and her disheveled hair falling out of her ponytail with every precisely executed motion. She wondered why Seulgi was alone and was about to check her watch - maybe her meeting with her teacher had run later than she realized - when she noticed that Seulgi wasn't in fact by herself.

She watched as Yooa and Eunae emerged from the locker room at the far end of the gym in their street clothes, hair still wet.

“You’re still out here?” Yooa asked as she tried to fix her bangs.

“Since when did the end of practice mean anything to Seulgi?” Eunae answered for her. Seulgi paused and took a moment to catch her breath, giving the pair a dogged smile.

“I’m actually surprised you two are still here,” she said.

“We were taking bets to see how long you'd keep going,” Yooa replied with a grin, but it soon shifted into worry. “But you shouldn’t overwork yourself, you know. If you pull a muscle or something…”

Seulgi shook her head to dismiss her concern and Eunae fished a towel out of her bag and tossed it to the Dance Team Captain. Seulgi caught it gratefully and wiped her neck. “I feel bad that I’m always leaving practice early. What kind of captain am I if I don’t even have the routine down?”

“It’s only twice a week,” Eunae soothed, speaking of the Drama Club's rehearsals. “I’m more worried about the way they’re treating you over there,” she added with a note of concern in her voice. She still remembered the way her heart had stopped as she rounded the corner in time to see Joy’s fist slam into that locker door.

Irene felt a little guilty hearing the two other girls talk about the Drama Club in such a way, but were they wrong? Morbid curiosity kept her near the door to listen for more.

“Oh, that…” Seulgi laughed in embarrassment. “Well I may have kind of… gotten mixed up in something…”

Irene leaned back in and spied both Yooa and Eunae crossing their arms almost in unison.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Oh, Seulgi.”

Seulgi let her head hang back and she tiredly her arms in the air. “Why does this keep happening to me?” she asked the heavens dramatically.

Yooa and Eunae exchanged a look. “Is it that redhead?” Eunae asked. “What’s her name… Joy?”

Seulgi laughed. “No, it’s her friend, Wendy. She’s really protective of her for some reason. And then there’s Irene…”

“Bae Irene?” Yooa asked with an impressed lilt.

“Don’t,” Seulgi warned. “It’s all turning into such a mess. First everyone thinks I’m dating Wendy, then Irene kisses me-”

“WHAT!?” both of the other girls screeched.

“No, no! It’s all messed up!” Seulgi mourned.

“I wish I had your kind of trouble,” Yooa muttered unsympathetically.

“What am I going to do?” Seulgi asked helplessly.

“You’re asking us?” Eunae pointed at herself. “But I’m not sure I really see the problem? You’re not dating Wendy, so you’re free to kiss Irene as much as you want…?”

“It’s not like that!” Seulgi protested with a bright blush. “It’s for the play! There’s a part where our characters kiss… several parts, actually,” Seulgi added ponderously.

“So…?” Eunae continued, still not quite following. “It doesn’t mean anything, then, right?”

“I guess the problem is… I’m not sure it didn’t mean anything?” Seulgi asked, and Yooa and Eunae facepalmed simultaneously.

Irene startled suddenly as she felt a hand on her arm.

“Irene?”

“Yeri?” Irene sputtered, and suddenly grabbed the blonde by her shoulders and walked her briskly down the hall, away from the gym. “What are you doing here?”

“Where are we going? I’m here to get Seulgi-” Yeri stopped allowing herself to be pushed on ahead and Irene ran into her.

“... Were you spying on Seulgi?”

“What?! Don’t be ridiculous! Why would I spy on Seulgi?”

“You tell me, Maria,” Yeri shot back with a raised brow. “Rehearsal isn't until tomorrow. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Irene asked fussily.

“Unless you like her,” Yeri accused with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t like her!” Irene scoffed, as if the very idea were preposterous. “I think she’s very nice, and a good kiss- actor, but that doesn’t mean I like her! How dare you!”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

“DON’T YOU QUOTE SHAKESPEARE AT ME, I’M THE ONE IN THE DRAMA CLUB!!!”

“Is… everything alright out here?” Seulgi asked.

Irene froze, but it wasn’t for more than a second. She pulled herself up to her full height, which admittedly wasn’t terribly impressive, and pointed at Yeri.

“I would like to file a formal complaint about your agent. She’s harassing me.”

“I’m harassing…?!” Yeri sputtered. “You were spying on Seulgi! I’m protecting her from paparazzi like you!”

“Me?! I’ll have you know-!”

“I’m glad to see you guys are getting along so well,” Seulgi cut in, beaming, and that successfully stopped Irene’s bickering. “But uh… what’s this about spying?” she asked sheepishly. She sincerely hoped Irene hadn’t heard her conversation with the other members of the Dance Team.

Irene put her acting skills to work. “I wasn’t spying. I was looking for you, to apologize.” She tactfully avoided Yeri’s prying gaze.

“About Saturday night. I… kind of got carried away, and…” she trailed off, seeing Seulgi’s bright smile settle into something a little softer.

“Hey, it was in the script, right?” she said good-naturedly, though there was something in the way she said ‘right’ that almost made it seem like she really was seeking confirmation. “I mean, I suppose we’ll have to get used to it since I’m your Tony.”

Yeri gave a frustrated sigh when it was clear that Irene was a little too tongue-tied to respond. The blonde reached out to grab Seulgi by the arm. “Come on, you dumb bear.”

Seulgi blinked down at her. “Where are we going now?”

“To the nurse’s. I’m suddenly feeling nauseous.”